Trust Me, I'm a Doctor
by lizzle333
Summary: Mikan Tsumiki is accustom to constant abuse and as the Super High Level Nurse, has no problems with healing her physical wounds. However she was never able to fix her broken heart, but when she meets a crazy mechanic will it begin to heal? Or will he only shatter it into smaller pieces beyond repair?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

It was a usual sight on a week day afternoon to see Mikan Tsumiki running, if tripping over your own feet at a rapid pace is considered running, down the street, trying desperately to reach the safety of her house as none other than Hiyoko Saionji chased her, with Mahiru Koizumi trailing behind of course. Tsumiki usually ended up face planting somewhere along the way, giving Saionji, who wasn't very athletic herself but could certainly run correctly, time to catch up. At this point Saionji usually pushed Tsumiki back on the ground as she hopelessly tried to get up. Saionji would then yell out obscenities at Tsumiki and get a couple of hard kicks in before Koizumi would wrench Saionji away, to preoccupied to even apologize to Tsumiki. Tsumiki usually sustained pretty nasty injuries from this, but it wasn't anything she couldn't fix as the Super High School Level Nurse.

This sequence of events transpired almost everyday after school. Tsumiki felt like it was part of her everyday routine, something she couldn't escape, but desperately needed too. She pulled her knees up to her chest, feeling tears stinging at her eyes again. Her disheveled, raven hair hid her face as she buried it in her knees. She started sobbing. Her chest heaved with every gasp she took in. She felt like she had to move, for fear of being seen and bullied again.

Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder and she tensed up, ready for whatever beating was about to occur. However, she was not hit. All she heard was a rough voice saying "Hey, are you okay?"

Kazuichi Souda was perplexed to say the least when he had stepped out of his house to find a girl sobbing right in front of him. He did a mental double take and then silently freaked out while he tried to decide what to do. He could just walk by, completely ignore her, but that didn't sit well with him. He ended up deciding that it would be best to approach her.

He laid a soft hand on her shoulder, and felt her flinch. She must be used to abuse, like himself.

"I'm so sorry!" Tsumiki yelped, standing up quickly and attempting to run away.

As expected, Tsumiki began to fall once she tried to run again, but Souda caught her. Tsumiki, braced for impact, opened her eyes to find herself face to face with the ground. She was then pulled up slowly and placed back on her feet.

"I'm so so sorry! I've caused you so much trouble!" Tsumiki said, burying her face in her hands.

"Why do you keep apologizing? I chose to help you so it's not your fault." Souda stated, causing Tsumiki to look up.

Tsumiki was baffled. Why was this stranger so nice to her? Why did he care about her? She felt weird inside, and made a mental note to come up with a shot to fix that later.

"I'm Souda by the way."

"Tsumiki."

"Hmm, Tsumiki huh? I kinda like that name."

Souda flashed Tsumiki a smile, showing off his sharp teeth. Put that on top of his wild pink hair, narrow eyes, and mechanic outfit, Souda looked like a pretty scary dude. Which, as anyone could assume, scared the living shit out of Tsumiki. But he did help her, so maybe he wasn't that bad.

Souda was pretty sure that this chick probably hated him by now. She probably wanted to be alone, but he couldn't leave her. Something kept him there on that sidewalk, trying to get the girl to warm up to him. He just chalked it up to not wanting to go back inside his house.

"Your face." Tsumiki muttered.

"My face? What about it?" Souda replied.

"You have a cut."

Souda touched his cheek. He had forgotten about that.

"Let me fix it." Tsumiki whispered.

"You can do that?" Souda asked.

Tsumiki nodded and started towards her house, which was only ten feet away. She was close today before she face planted. Not bothering to look and see if Souda was following her, Tsumiki opened her door and walked in her house.

"Wow, bro! You live here?" Souda asked.

Tsumiki nodded.

"Then I guess we're neighbors." Souda said.

Tsumiki kept walking to her medicine room in the back of the house, not sure whether to be happy or terrified about Souda being her new neighbor. She had of course known that the house next door was for sale, she had run into the "For Sale" sign on multiple occasions, but she was probably too busy running away from Saionji to pay much attention to whoever moved in. At least until now.

Souda was kinda glad to have Tsumiki as his neighbor. He was hoping that she would be friends with him so he wouldn't be a lonely loser, but at this rate, it would take more effort to get her to be his friend than if he just tried to be friends with anyone else. However, he still felt like he needed to try.

Tsumiki lightly patted the table placed in the center of her medicine room, and Souda hopped on it and proceeded to make funny faces in the mirror across the room. Tsumiki could help but let out a little snicker when she turned around to find Souda making a monkey face. She quickly hid it when Souda turned to face her, scared to death that he might get mad at her and hit her. Instead he just said "Alrighty Doc, whatcha gonna do?"

"Im going to clean... and then evaluate... maybe stiches... or a shot for the pain."

"Wow! No shots! Please no! I hhhaaaatttteee needles! Just please fix my face."

Souda added a puppy dog face for good measure, but it only ended up making Tsumiki more afraid. She nervously walked over to the table and spread out everything she would be using next to Souda. Tsumiki took a deep breath before pouring some hydrogen peroxide on a gauze. She used this to clean out the wound, making Souda flinch at the sudden sting.

"Sorry." she muttered.

The cut wasn't deep enough to require stitches, much to Tsumiki's displeasure, so after cleaning it all she had to do was bandage it up. When she was done, Souda lightly touched the bandage before saying "Thanks Tsumiki!"

"Umm, Souda." Tsumiki said before Souda left.

"Yeah?"

"How did that happen?"

Tsumiki was about to slap herself for asking such a stupid question. She was sure that Souda was going to annihilate her now.

"Oh, my dad. It's nothing to worry about." Souda said.

Tsumiki closed the door behind Souda, thankful that no annihilations had occurred today. She was beginning to think that maybe this Souda character wasn't so bad, but that's what she thought last time, and look where she ended up.

Souda walked home, recounting today's events. For some reason, he wanted to be friends with Tsumiki. She was shy and kinda annoying, but he thought that was only cause she was scared to be who she really was. Souda was determined to find that side of her. He thought that maybe his new life here wouldn't be so bad if Tsumiki was there to fix him up after one of his fights with his dad.

...

Tsumiki sat staring out of her bedroom window, starring up at the stars. She did this almost every night after homework. Stars were so lucky. They were so far away, so distant. They seemed like they didn't have any problems at all. Tsumiki was about to go to bed when she noticed a light turn on in the house next to hers. Souda's house. Before Tsumiki had time to react, Souda had walked into view, and noticed her. He smiled and waved.

Tsumiki was so shocked that she ended up tipping her desk chair over and landing smack on her back. She rubbed her back as she used her desk to help herself up. Souda gave her a sympathetic look. Suddenly, Souda started running around his room, throwing things every which way. Tsumiki laughed, but scolded herself afterwards.

Souda had come up with the best idea ever. He may not be a genius, but he was pretty smart. He just had to find his large pad of paper. Ah ha! In the bottom of the dirty clothes pile! How did it get there? Souda grabbed a pen and wrote "OUCH" in big letters, then showing it to Tsumiki.

Tsumiki grabbed a pen and a piece of paper, which were conveniently located at her desk, and wrote "SORRY" back. "WHY?" was her response. Tsumiki didn't know what to say to this. Instead she just wrote "BYE" and pulled her curtains over the window. Why? Tsumiki didnt know and figured it would be better just to go to sleep and hope Souda just dropped the subject.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Tsumiki had managed to make it to school today with her own clumsiness as her only obstacle. Saionji must be sick or something cause her walk was completely peaceful, minus falling over her feet a couple of times. Tsumiki took her seat in the back corner of the classroom, settling in for an other day of probable bullying. She played with the bandages on her hands as the rest of the class filed in. Tsumiki heard yelling in the hallway and recognized it as Saionji's voice. Tsumiki sighed, so she was just late, unfortunately. Before Saionji had even entered the room, Tsumiki was ready for the verbal abuse about to occur.

"_Uck! _Who let it in? I can't even look at it," Saionji said.

"I'm sorry," Tsumiki whispered as tears welled in her eyes.

Tsumiki was waiting for Saionji's response, sure there would be one and to afraid to look up. However all Tsumiki heard was "Why don't you pick on someone your own size, pipsqueak?" That's weird. Tsumiki could have sworn that it was Souda's voice. She looked up to find Souda standing defensively between her and Saionji.

Souda had a rough morning. Nothing worse than being late, right? He had luckily made it to school just before the gates closed. When he finally found his classroom, he thought for sure that this day was going to blow. However, when he walked in and noticed Tsumiki, he was actually quite happy. He had a friend at his new school! And then that blonde headed she devil came up. Souda realized the probable reason as to why Tsumiki was crying yesterday. And he wasn't happy about it.

"Yes Saionji please, that's enough. I agree with the new student," Sonia Nevermind, Super High School Level Princess and one of Tsumiki's classmates, said.

"Oh, really?" Souda replied, sounding nervous.

"Why yes. I am Sonia Nevermind. You are?"

"Oh, uh, Souda. Yeah, that's right. Souda Kazuichi, Super High School Level Mechanic, at your service!"

Souda thought he had died and gone to heaven. This beautiful lady was talking to him. He was sure that he was in love. Sonia. What a marvelous person. He had to win her heart, no matter what it took!

Tsumiki watched as Sonia left to talk to Gundam Tanaka, her guy "friend." Everyone in the class knew that those two were going to go out eventually. It was so obvious. Clearly Souda didn't pick up on it. He was still standing there, dazed. Tsumiki sighed. She may not have been the sharpest tool in the shed, but Souda's emotions were written on his face. He loved Sonia, but Tsumiki didn't love Souda, so what was bothering her so much?

The teacher walked in and the class was relieved to see that the idiotic rabbit, Usami, was not with him. The class got quiet and everyone took their seats, Souda sitting in front of Tsumiki. The teacher immediately began his lectures. Tsumiki figured that she could teach herself the material later, like she always did, and didn't pay attention, choosing to play with her bandages instead.

Souda fell asleep as soon as he sat down. He had never been one to care about school so he didn't care what grade he got. He would wake up every once in a while to sneak a glance at Sonia. He quickly picked up on the fact that she spent a lot of time with the guy with the weird scar and four hamsters. What did she see in him? Well, whatever it was, he was determined to win her heart, no matter what!

The bell for lunch rang and the class shuffled out to meet their friends. All except Tsumiki, who usually stayed in the classroom for lunch, and Souda.

"Hey, Tsumiki, want to eat lunch together?" Souda asked, showing his sharp teeth when he smiled.

"S-sure," Tsumiki mumbled, not making eye contact as she pulled a sandwich out of her lunch bag.

Souda threw a bag of chips on Tsumikis desk and began to devour it. When he was done, his stomach growled. It dawned on Tsumiki that all Souda had brought for lunch was that bag of chips. What was he thinking? She knows better than anyone how sick he could get. She sighed as she pulled out an apple and placed it in front of Souda.

Souda looked at the apple in shock. Was Tsumiki giving him food? Souda blushed at the gesture but blew it off.

"For you." Tsumiki said, keeping her eyes on her hands.

"Thank you!" Souda said with a smile.

Souda really was hungry and the thought that Tsumiki was thinking of him made him happy. He almost gave the girl a hug, but then though better of it. She probably didn't like being touched. Oh how he hoped Sonia would hug him one day.

Tsumiki let her hair fall in front of her face to hide the blush on her cheeks. Why was her body reacting this way? This was not something she had ever experienced. She was going to have to find a way to fix it. She had some serious research to do when she got home.

"Hey, so Tsumiki, I have a question for you," Souda said.

"Yes?" Tsumiki replied, looking up a little bit.

"Is Sonia dating anyone?"

Tsumiki was a little shocked by the question and, surprisingly, upset. However, she didn't have a choice but to answer it.

"No, but the class thinks she and Tanaka will get together," Tsumiki whispered.

"Then I just have to win her heart before they do!" Souda said with determination.

Tsumiki felt hurt by this, and she didn't know why. Why did she care? What was so special about this idiot?

...

The final bell rang and Tsumiki got out of that class as fast as she could, which wasn't very fast at all. After dropping all of her books on her first attempt to get them into her bag, she could she Souda go over to talk to Sonia. What was wrong with her? She just met the guy yesterday. What was she getting so worked up about? She didn't know, but she had to get out of that classroom. As she was heading to the door, Souda called "Tsumiki! Want to walk home together?"

"No. I have to go somewhere so I'm not going straight home." Tsumiki lied, not even bothering to look back.

"Okay." Souda said indifferently before he went back to talking to Sonia.

Souda thought it was weird that Tsumiki had a place to be. She seemed like the type to not really do anything, but he figured that he just didn't know enough about her. He was a little upset that she didn't tell him where and that she refused to let him be her friend, but he got to talk to Sonia so he guessed that it was alright.

Tsumiki rushed out of the building, concentrating on not tripping. She did pretty well. She was so engrossed in not tripping that she didn't even hear Saionji's insults. Once she got home, she ran up to her room and closed the door. She sat down at her desk and put her head in her arms. What was her problem? Why did she care about Souda so much? Tears slowly slid down her cheeks as she let out small sniffles.

For Souda, the walk home was pretty boring. He was wondering what it would be like if Tsumiki was walking with him. Oh well, he would have to wait until tomorrow. Maybe he could catch her on the way to school. It shouldn't be hard if he got up on time. Tsumiki seemed kind of off, but then again she was a shy girl so that shouldn't be too weird right? Just when he thought she was finally warming up to him too. Not to mention that Sonia seemed to be getting meaner and more annoyed with Souda. But Souda hadn't lost yet! He will win the her heart. It was just a matter of time.

Souda dropped his bag once he was inside his house. It seemed like his dad wasn't back from work yet. He decided to go up to his room and chill out. He grabbed his Beats headphones off the table and plugged them into his phone. He started his music on his was upstairs. Souda walked into his room and looked out the window. Tsumiki's curtains were open and there was Tsumiki on her desk, asleep! So she didn't have anything to do. She lied to him.

Wait a second? Did she just move her shoulders? Souda watched her again and waited for it to happen again. It did. What was she doing? Just randomly moving her shoulders? Then he realized what it was. She was crying. Impulsively, Souda knocked on her window, trying to get her attention.

When Tsumiki heard a muffled knock, her head snapped up. She saw Souda standing at his window looking concerned. Crap! She had forgotten to close her curtains. The moment she saw him she closed them. She put her head back in her hands and began to cry more. She was so embarrassed.

Souda was shocked at Tsumiki's reaction. He had to find out what was wrong. Without thinking, he ran out of his house and up to Tsumiki's. He rang the doorbell.

When Tsumiki hear the doorbell, she outwardly groaned. This was not a good time but she wipped her eyes and went downstairs anyways. She opened the door and almost died when she saw Souda. She should have known it would be him! She closed the door quickly, but not quick enough. Souda stopped it and pried it open, entering her house.

"Tsumiki what is wrong? Why are you crying?" Souda asked, closing the door behind him.

Tsumiki didn't answer. She just leaned against the wall, unable to speak.

"Tsumiki! Souda yelled.

Tsumiki jumped at his voice but remained silent.

"Was it Saionji?" Souda tried again.

By now Souda had both of his hands on Tsumiki's shoulders and was slowly shaking her, as if he could shake the answer out of her.

"It's nothing," Tsumiki mumbled, holding back tears.

"No it's not! Listen if you don't want to talk about it now, fine. But just let me help! You're my friend!"

Tsumiki was tired of Souda calling her a friend. It sent a knife through her heart every time he did. She was done with him right now. This was all his fault anyways.

"No!" Tsumiki snapped, anger showing on her face for a brief second.

She realized what she had done. The anger faded, replace by her usual timidness.

Souda was shocked when Tsumiki yelled at him. He never thought she had it in her. Maybe he did push her a little too hard. Instead of being mad at her, he felt guilty. He felt like he had committed an unforgivable sin.

"I'm sorry. You should leave," Tsumiki said, not making eye contact.

Souda did as he was told. He felt bad about what had happened. He shouldn't have pushed her. He knew that she was going through a rough time, but he just wanted to help. Souda banged his fist on his bedroom wall, leaving a bruise, but he didn't care about the pain. Why did he always screw things up? Souda sat on his bed, tears welling in his eyes. He rubbed them, wondering why he was crying. Was it because Tsumiki had yelled at him, or was it because his friend was hurt and there wasn't anything he could do about it. Maybe it was both.

Tsumiki sat on her bed, tears rolling down her cheeks again. Why couldn't she get anything right? Why did she snap at him? She almost had a friend, but messed it up, like she always did.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Tsumiki decided that today would probably be a good day to skip school. That way she wouldn't have to deal with Souda and she would miss out on Saionji's bullying. She just spent the whole day laying in bed. It felt nice to just lay there and think about nothing. Tsumiki hadn't opened her curtain since last night and only dared to take a peak when she was sure that Souda would be at school. Why was she such a coward? Never once in her life had she faced her problems, instead choosing to ignore them or run away from them. She always wondered why she couldn't just stand up for herself. Even if she made a resolve to fix a problem, she always shied away at the last second.

Souda was worried when Tsumiki didn't show up at school. He hoped that it wasn't because of what happened yesterday, but he knew it was. He felt awful about the whole situation. He had to make it up to her somehow, but he no clue how.

"Souda, where's Tsumiki?" Sonia asked.

Souda did a mental victory dance. Sonia was talking to _him _and not _Tanaka. _

"Oh, um, well her house," Souda replied.

"She must be feeling sick. Well, I assume she can take care of herself."

Souda let out an internal sigh of relief. He didn't really want anyone knowing about what happened yesterday.

"How long have you known her? You two looked close," Sonia asked.

"Two days," Souda replied.

"Wow you must really like her."

"Yeah, she's a good friend."

Souda pondered Sonia's words on the way home. What did she mean by "liking Tsumiki a lot?" Like in a friendship way or a... Souda's face turned bright red at the thought. There's no way. Plus, he was in love with Sonia! Tsumiki was just a friend. One that he wanted to keep at that. Which brought him back to how he was going to make up with Tsumiki.

Suddenly, Souda had an idea. For the first time in a long time, Souda had actually paid attention in class and had taken notes. He could use that as an excuse to go over to Tsumiki's house where he would then wing it and somehow end up making things all better. The plan was perfection in it's finest form, or so Souda thought. He walked up nervously to the front door of Tsumiki's house and rang the doorbell.

Tsumiki groaned as she rolled out of bed. Why did people have to come at this time? She rubbed her eyes and didn't even bother to brush her hair or change out of her teddy bear pajamas. After falling down the stairs, Tsumiki finally managed to stagger to her front door. Once she opened it, she automatically wished she hadn't.

Souda stepped in before Tsumiki could close the door, which he knew she would do if he let her. She was so adorable right now. Wait, no, he didn't think that. He loves _Sonia._

"What do you want?" Tsumiki asked, keeping her eyes on the ground.

"Well, you missed school so I figured that you need the notes that you missed so I brought them," Souda said, handing her the notebook.

Tsumiki took it tentatively. She felt her face turn red as she flipped through the book. Why did Souda do this to her?

"And I wanted to apologize for yesterday, so I'm sorry," Souda said, his own face turning red.

This made Tsumiki jerk her head up to look at Souda. Why was he apologizing. It was her fault. She figured that this was the time to start facing her problems. If Souda could do it, than so could she.

"Me too. I'm sorry. It was my fault," She choked out.

Souda looked her dead in the eye, causing them both to blush a little.

It took all of Souda's might not to hug Tsumiki. Why did he want to hug her so much? This was so weird. He had never felt this way before.

"Your hand," Tsumiki said, pointing at the bandages Souda had loosely wrapped around it.

"This? Oh, it's nothing," Souda replied.

Tsumiki ignored him and took his bandages off. Purple bruising had formed along the side of his little finger and palm.

"That is not fine." Tsumiki said flatly.

She grabbed his good hand and lead him to her "office." She blushed, feeling rather bold.

Souda was happy. He was happy things were okay with him and Tsumiki and he was happy that she was there to fix him up. He sat on the same table he did when he had first met Tsumiki. She rummaged through her medicines and pulled out some cream, Motrin, and bandages.

"Take these. It will help with the inflammation." Tsumiki said as she handed Souda the Motrin.

Souda popped the pills in his mouth and swallowed. Tsumiki began rubbing the cream on the side of Souda's hand . He winced and she gave him an apologetic look. A look that made Souda melt and then mentally kick himself for it. The teddy bear pajamas were not helping the situation.

Lastly Tsumiki wrapped up Souda's hand tight with the bandages.

"You have to be more careful.," Tsumiki said.

"Thanks mom," Souda teased, earning an annoyed look from Tsumiki that caused him to giggle.

Souda stayed a little longer and they chated. Tsumiki was more than happy that everything was fixed. She enjoyed hanging out with Souda. He brought out a side of Tsumiki she didn't even know she had.

Just before Souda was about to leave, he asked "Hey Tsumiki, want to walk to school together tomorrow?"

"Yeah." She replied with a smile.

Souda had to get out of there quick. That smile was his kryptonite. He felt that if he had stayed one second later he would have done something that he would have regretted. Tsumiki really confused Souda, but it wasn't all bad, and that was the most confusing part. Oh well, he had to worry about Sonia now. How in the world was he going to win her heart?

Tsumiki went up to her room and opened her curtain, no longer afraid. She sat at her desk and thumbed through the notebook Souda had given her. She opened to one page and found a note.

_Tsumiki, _

_You're amazing. Don't forget it. _

She couldn't help but smile. Souda was so stupid, but she liked it. She picked up a pencil and wrote her reply.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Tsumiki sat at her table, groggily eating a bowl of cereal. Her eyes were glazed over and she almost fell asleep, narrowly missing falling into her cereal. Her doorbell rang, but she was so out of it she didn't even realize that it did. She just sat there, zoning out.

Souda waited for Tsumiki to answer the door. When she didn't, he began to freak. Why wasn't Tsumiki coming to the door? He knew that he should be freaking out so much, but he really wanted to see her and he really couldn't stop himself. He started ringing the doorbell excessivly.

"TSUMIKI! WE'RE GOING TO BE LATE!" Souda screamed.

Tsumiki finally snapped out of it and rushed to her door, pulling on her shoes and grabbing her backpack. She opened it quickly to find Souda still ringing the doorbell.

"I'm so sorry!" Tsumiki said, looking at the ground.

"Oh no, it's not your fault. Let's go to school," Souda replied.

Tsumiki nodded her head, stepping outside and locking her door behind her.

The walk to school was somewhat silent. Tsumiki kept her eyes on the ground. For some reason she was so nervous when she was with Souda but she liked it all at the same time. What was wrong with her?!

Souda couldn't help but sneak looks at Tsumiki. She looked super cute today and he blushed every time he looked at her. What was he thinking?! He can't like _Tsumiki. _He loves _Sonia! _Well, using his extremely twisted version of logic, he decided that the only way to solve this was to just ask Sonia out! Then, when she said yes, he wouldn't have to worry too much about the shady Gundam Tanaka character. It was bullet proof in Souda's mind.

All through out the day, Souda planned how he would do it. He would have to tell Tsumiki to go home without him and he would wait after school for Sonia to finish her club meetings. Then, he would just ask her. He figured that being as forward as possible was the best way to ask.

Tsumiki knew something was up just by looking at Souda all day. Imstead of ignoring his studies and sleeping, he was ingnoring his studies and thinking. Whenever Souda dared to think, his face would scrunch up so his eyebrows looked like a unibrow and his mouth formed a frown that caused his nose to look like a pigs. Right now he was making that face and electing snickers and giggles from his classmates. Tsumiki even caught herself giggling once, but quickly stopped.

When it was lunch time, Souda walked over to Tsumiki and sat down in the chair so his legs straddled the back rest. He set his lunch down on Tsumiki's desk and started eating.

"What's wrong?" Tsumiki asked quietly.

"Hmm?" Souda hummed, popping a Goldfish in his mouth.

"Why are you thinking? Is something wrong?" Tsumiki asked, a bit louder this time.

"Oh! How did you know I was thinking?"

Tsumiki bit down a laugh before replying with "Just a hunch."

"Oh. Well, nothing's wrong I assure you. I'll tell you this afternoon! Don't wait up for me after school, just go home. I'll meet you at your house," Souda said, munching down the rest of his Goldfish and opening his bag of Oreos.

Tsumiki sighed, wiping her mouth with a napkin. She noticed one of her bandages was loose and promptly fixed it, making sure it was tight around her wrists.

The rest of the day went by rather quickly for Souda, but painfully long for Tsumiki. She sat squirming in her seat, wanting to get out of class. Whatever Souda decided to put thought into had to be big and she wanted to know! However she was willing to bet it had something to do with Sonia.

Souda spent the rest of class day dreaming about his new life with Sonia. They were going to be a perfect couple that no one could match.

Finally the bell rang and Tsumiki gathered her stuff and exited the classroom. On her way out Souda gave her a thumbs up and she slightly blushed.

Souda waited outside of the classroom for an hour. He picked at his shoe, did push ups in the hallway, and braided and unbraided strands of his hair. Finally, her club meeting was over. Souda ducked around the hall, trying to make the encounter casual. This was it! He was going to ask Sonia to be his girlfriend.

Once he spotted Sonia, he turned the corner and called out her name. She turned and smiled at him.

"Sonia, I have a question to ask you," he said when he had caught up to her.

Before Souda could continue, Tanaka came and stood next to Sonia.

"Tanaka!" She said, scooting closer to him.

"This guy bothering you?" he asked, his scarf pulled up to his nose in an attempt to hide his red face.

"I was having a conversation with her until you butted in!" Souda exclaimed, completely offended by Tanaka's intrusion.

"Well, I have to talk to her. She is _my girlfriend_."

Sonia blushed at the title, but didn't refuse it when Souda gave her a questioning look.

"You should leave," Tanaka said.

Souda felt anger roll over him quickly. Without even realizing it, punched Tanaka in the face, which didn't turn out good because Tanaka was stronger than he looked. He easily doged Souda's next swipe adn kneed him in the gut. Tanaka hit his elbow against Souda's back, causing Souda to drop to the ground. Tanaka gave him a kick to the nose, causing Souda's nose to bleed.

"Don't mess with me next time. The four dark gods of destruction are on my side," Tanaka said before turning and leaving, Sonia trailing behind.

...

Tsumiki laid still on her plush couch, hair fanning out from her head. Her eyes were closed as she tried to take a nap. However, her doorbell started ringing rapidly. She groaned as she got up. As much as she wanted to know what Souda was up to, did he really have to interrupt her nap?

Tsumiki opened her door to find Souda, as she expected, holding his nose and visible bruises forming on his face. It was safe to say tha whatever he had been planning, did not go over too well.

"You know the drill," she said as she went to her in house hospital, Souda trailing behind.

Souda jumped up on the table as Tsumiki grabbed her supplies.

"What happened to you?" she asked as she cleaned up the blood from Souda's nose.

"Stupid Tanaka. I hit him and he hit back, hard."

"I can see that. This is going to hurt."

Tsumiki put her fingers on either side of Souda's nose and forcefully pushed until it was straight. Souda gripped the table and tried not to scream in pain. Tsumiki put a tent shaped cast over his nose and tapped it to his face with medical tape. Next was his knuckles. Since Souda was not a trained fighter, he basically broke his fingers every time he hit someone. For now all Tsumiki could do was wrap his bleeding knuckles.

Souda tried to get off the table, but winced when he felt pain shoot through his side.

"You're not done. Let me see your ribs," Tsumiki said.

Souda rolled his eyes as he unzipped his jump suit, pulling his arms out of it. He then took off the white tank top he was wearing underneath. He couldn't help but blush.

Tsumiki noticed a black bruise forming on his left side.

"There's not much I can do other than wrap it to stop inflammation and give you pain meds," Tsumiki said as she began to wrap his side.

"Why did Tanaka hit you?" Tsumiki asked not looking up from her work.

Souda didn't respond. He didn't want to think about it. Sonia didn't like him and he got beat up by the jerk Tanaka. It was a little too much. He felt tears sting at his eyes, but he tried to hold them back. However, one escaped and hit Tsumiki's arm.

Tsumiki looked up at the sudden feeling of wetness of her arm. She saw a streak of water down Souda's cheek and she knew exactly what he had been planning and how it failed. Tsumiki sighed. That idiot just had to learn the hard way. She finished up warpping his ribs and said "Sorry."

Souda looked up at her. Without thinking, he reached out and hugged her. She was warm and smelled like strawberries.

Tsumiki was startled when she was suddenly hugged by Souda, not to mention just a bit flustered. She figured that he probably did just need a hug right then and wrapped her arms around him.

Souda blushed when Tsumiki hugged him back. He felt odd. Like someone had decided to unleash a flock of butterflies in his stomach. However, he couldn't help but think that he liked hugging Tsumiki.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Tsumiki turned in her bed, throwing her hair over her shoulder. She let out a sigh as she threw the blankets off of her body and sat up in bed. The clock read one o'clock. Tsumiki was usually in bed asleep by ten o'clock, however she lay awake in her bed, tossing and turning. She walked down the stairs and opened her refridgerator, pulling out a cluster of grapes. She washed them off and sat down on her couch, absently plucking the grapes and tossing them in her mouth. She closed her eyes and then he appeared behind her eyes. His unnaturally pink hair with a tuft of it braided. His sharp eyes starred back at her with softness, his sharp teeth framed by a soft smile. His hands were stuffed in the pockets of his jumpsuit and one of the sleeves hung off his shoulder. His tank top peeked out from underneath the unzipped portion of his jumpsuit.

Tsumiki's eyes flung open and she grabbed her chest, feeling her heart beating rapidly. She breathed heavily and groaned. At this rate she was never going to get to sleep.

"This is ridiculous," Tsumiki said to herself.

She pulled her laptop from the coffee table and opened internet explorer. She typed her symptoms into the search bar and began her research. She was coming up with a diagnosis tonight.

Souda was in a similar state. He paced around his room, hand on his chin, eyes scrunched up. He couldn't possibly sleep. Not like this. Not when every moment all he saw was her. All he saw was long, black hair that almost completely consumed it's owner. A small face peeked out from behind the mane. He saw delicate eyes with a fire of determination behind them. He saw delicate hands that moved with determination, wrapped in bandages. She was everywhere. Souda let out an exasperated cry and fell on his floor, staring up at the ceiling. Tsumiki drove him crazy. He had never felt like this before. Sure, Sonia was smoking hot, but Tsumiki had something else. He couldn't place his finger on it, but he wondered how he had missed it all this time.

The next morning, Tsumiki lay asleep on her couch, her laptop sitting open next to her. The doorbell was what roused her. She sat up, and realized it was time to go to school. Usually, she would panic and run around the house like a madwoman, but her head hurt and she felt like garbage. She figured that this would be a good day to call in sick, considering it would also give her more time to continue her research, which had been unfruitful last night.

She stood up from the couch and made her way to the door. She opened it and found Souda on the other side.

Souda looked at Tsumiki and could tell something was wrong. For one, she was in her pajamas, which was not only unusual but mildly distracting for Souda. She had dark bags under her eyes and her hair seemed to defy gravity.

"You okay?" Souda asked, genuinely concerned.

"I'm sick today. I'm going to stay home," Tsumiki responded, her voice sounding like gravel.

"Good call. I hope you feel better," Souda said, subconsciously ruffling Tsumiki's hair.

"Bye!" Tsumiki said suddenly, closing the door.

"Shit," Souda said out loud.

He totally didn't mean for that to happen. He needed to get his act together. He couldn't go wrecking the one friendship he had ever had because he can't think straight.

Tsumiki pressed her back to the door, her heart beating quickly. She clutched her chest. Why was this happening? Why was he so different than everyone else?

"I need to get to the bottom of this," she said.

She walked to her laptop and picked up where she had left off. She scrolled down the page and looked at article titles. Not a single one of them was a medical article or journal. Out of exasperation, she clicked on one page, even if she did question its reliability. It was an article about...love? It outlined her symptoms perfectly. Tsumiki slammed her laptop shut. Clearly that article was an awful idea. It's not even creditable so it can't be right.

Tsumiki opened her laptop again and clicked on a different article, but it was about the same thing. Tsumiki placed her laptop on the couch next to her. Clearly she wasn't going to find the right answer online, nor did she know of anyone who could help her. She was just going to have to figure it out on her own.

Meanwhile, Souda sat in school, thinking of ways so he could see Tsumiki again today so he could apologize. Then, he had an idea.

After school Souda walked up to Chiaki Nanami and asked "Hey Nanami, could I borrow your notes from today for a quick second? I totally forgot to get some for Tsumiki."

Nanami nodded and handed Souda a black composition book. Souda quickly copied down the notes in his book and handed Nanami's back to her.

"Thank you!" he said.

Nanami nodded her head before leaving the classroom. Souda followed suit and rushed to Tsumiki's house. He walked up to the door and rang the doorbell a couple times.

Tsumiki looked up from her T.V. when she heard he doorbell ring. She paused the show and stood up. She walked to the door and opened it. She felt a blush creep across her face as she came face to face with Souda.

"Hey Tsumiki! I brought over the notes you missed in class today," Souda said, trying to play it cool.

Tsumiki motioned for him to come in, and he entered. By now the house was familiar and he walked into the living room, sitting down at the kitchen table. Tsumiki sat next to him and opened the book Souda had placed on the table. Her blush was only getting worse. She couldn't believe that Souda was thoughtful enough to get notes for her. It was obvious they weren't his, they were too specific, but she appreciated the effort.

"Thanks Souda," She said quietly.

She glanced up and saw the smile on Souda's face. It was different. Instead of having that teasing glint behind his eyes, it was completely soft. She quickly looked back at the notes.

Souda almost got lost in his thoughts, watching Tsumiki as she scoured over the notes. She was adorable, at least in his eyes. Then he remembered the reason he came here.

"Ah, Tsumiki. I'm sorry about what happened this morning. I wasn't thinking," He said, quieter than usual.

"That's okay," She said, looking at the book. "It was nice."

Tsumiki's face turned dark crimson and she hunched her shoulders, trying to make herself small.

Souda's eyes widened. He smiled. He ruffled her hair again.

Tsumiki sat up when she felt the contact. She tried to hide her smile behind her hair.

"Watcha watching?" he asked, noting the image on the T.V.

"Untold Stories of the E.R.," Tsumiki whispered.

"Can I watch it with you?"

Tsumiki nodded her head and walked over to the couch, Souda joining her. Souda had to take a mental moment to calm himself down. He had to play it cool. He didn't want to freak Tsumiki out.

Tsumiki mentally took a deep breath. She could handle this. Plus Souda was just a friend, it's not like he had feelings for her anyways. He probably wasn't over Sonia. Tsumiki hit play and the show continued where she has left off.


End file.
